The best cycling routes around Veslud

The Carolingian origins of the abbey are obscure. Julia Fritsch, heritage curator, interim head of the nationally competent department of the museum of the Middle Ages, thermal baths and hotel of Cluny, in Paris, writes that on the site of a former Carolingian collegiate church, the bishop of Laon, Barthélemy de Jur, installed Norbert of Xanten in 1119 to bring the canons back to respect the canonical rules. Faced with the failure of this operation, Norbert of Xanten, with a few companions, founded the order of the Premonstratensians in 1121. The bishop expelled the canons and replaced them with twelve regular canons from the abbey of Prémontré in 1124[3]. This abbey is one of the primarii inter pares of the Premonstratensian order, along with Cuizy and Florette. The abbey is said to have had five hundred brothers in 1136, which necessitated increasing the dimensions of the church to accommodate them during the office they were to hold together at least once a day[4]. The construction of the church by the Premonstratensians began with the two-level nave and the side aisles, built between 1135 and 1150, covered by an exposed timber frame, and ending in a low transept. It continued with the vaulted choir, built between 1150 and 1160. Altar niches were then added in the second bay of the choir. The vaults of the nave and side aisles were built between 1190 and 1200. The construction of the nave vaults required adding a column flanked by two ringed colonnettes to each pier to support the transverse arch and the ribs. The additional thrust from the vaults required larger flying buttresses. At the transept level, the thrust from the vaults led to an increase in height. The facade of the south arm of the transept was raised. Construction continued with the towers at the level of the last bay of the side aisles, at the junction with the transept, until the end of the 13th century; the spires that topped them were removed in 1737. The western facade is later. It is sometimes attributed to the 14th century. Its construction did not begin until around 1270. One element confirms this dating: the arrival at the abbey of an important relic of Saint Lawrence, around 1230. His martyrdom is depicted on the tympanum of the north portal of the facade[5]. In 1340, Abbot Jean de Bruyères was ordered to fortify his monastery to protect it against potential attackers. In 1728, Joseph Étienne de La Fare obtained on August 23, 1728, a royal patent authorizing him, after the agreement of the abbot of Prémontré and the religious of Saint-Martin, to proceed with the Pope for the reunion of the abbey of Saint-Martin with the bishopric of Laon. The agreement of the Roman Curia was quickly obtained, but the death of Benedict XIII necessitated waiting for the election of the new pope. Clement XII, once elected, issued his bulls in accordance with what had been decided by his predecessor on July 16, 1730. The Pope extinguished the title of regular abbot of Saint-Martin and incorporated the abbey into the bishopric of Laon with the abbatial mensal benefice, but with the obligation to increase the annates of the bishopric of Laon by 1,500 gold florins and that 6,000 livres would be paid annually and in perpetuity by the bishop of Laon and his successors to the college of the order of Prémontré in Paris. The bulls were then published in Laon by the official of Reims on March 17, 1731. The bishop of Laon took possession of the abbey the next day. The king approved the extinction of the abbey of Saint-Martin by letters patent and its incorporation into the episcopal mensal benefice in May 1731. They were registered by the Parliament of Paris on September 6, 1731[6].

The charming Romanesque chapel of the Templars is located in the museum park. The Order of the Temple was founded in 1128 and the bishop of Laon favored their installation in the city on land belonging to the king of France, located south of the canons' enclosure. The Saint-Jean-Baptiste chapel was erected around 1140: the octagon and the choir are the oldest parts; the porch was added a few decades later.

This austere church, contemporary with the cathedral, is a fine example of 12th-century monastic architecture. With its two historiated side tympana, the façade is later, dating from around 1270. Inside, the 17th- and 18th-century woodwork and some elements of medieval funerary sculpture are noteworthy.

For its opening hours, the cathedral is open every day from 8:30 am to 6:30 pm and can be visited free, however, there is an audioguided tour for 7 €

The present Notre-Dame de Laon cathedral is the heir to an ancient building, built under the Carolingians and destroyed during the communal insurrection of 1112. Completed around 1235, the cathedral underwent a major restoration in the 19th century, and again in the 2000s. Note that since September 3, 2021, the building has been home to a “Blueberry of Memory” (a work of art by artist Matt Seaward) offered by the Bishop of Durham (UK) in memory of the soldiers who fell in the First World War.

Placed high on a mound and built on the former site of the Moulin de Vauclerc, which served as an observatory for the emperor, the limestone statue represents the Emperor scanning the horizon in a dignified position.

Here, visitors will find an early masterpiece of Gothic architecture, a style often found in this part of France – Chartres and Reims, for example, attract enthusiastic international visitors and are far more famous than Laon. In the following 13th century, many Gothic churches were built, not only in their country of origin, France, but also beyond the country's borders, where this skyward-striving, light-filled architectural style was now in great demand for new churches (for example, the laying of the foundation stone for Cologne Cathedral in 1248).

This memorial stone, located on the Plateau de Californie above the old Craonne, commemorates the fierce fighting of April-May 1917 during the Nivelle Offensive. It stands on the spot where the French army suffered heavy losses in the battle against the German defenses. The stone also pays tribute to the destroyed village of Craonne, which was not rebuilt after the war. The site is closely linked to the famous “Chanson de Craonne”, the pacifist song of the French soldiers